The "Mossad spy" arrested in Turkey who didn't even know he was a spy

(Not exactly like this)

This week it was revealed that Turkey had arrested 15 people that they claimed were part of a Mossad "spy ring."

Turkish newspaper Sabah today described how one of the supposed spies was recruited - and it appears that he didn't know he was a spy.

Daily Sabah describes the operation:

According to the news article, [Turkish citizen] M.A.S. had a company that provided consultancy to students coming from abroad to Istanbul. Mossad first contacted him in December 2018 through an agent called A.Z., who reached him through an unknown number on WhatsApp.

He asked M.A.S. for information about his business, claiming that he had Arab-origin customers in Germany whose children wanted to study in Turkey.

The agent aimed thereby to learn how Palestinian students entered universities in Turkey and what kind of opportunities the Turkish government and municipalities provided them with. After a week, the suspect who sent his work to the Mossad official received hundreds of euros through Western Union.

This was the first parcel of money that he was to receive over three years. M.A.S. also agreed to work on a separate file on Palestinian nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in Turkey for Mossad, which he encountered for the first time face-to-face in 2019.

A.Z. told him he has a close friend who wants to help the Palestinian people, with the initials M.C.

This friend was another case officer who told M.A.S he is working in the European Union and could communicate with him through Protonmail.

M.A.S. explained that he received thousands of euros in return for the files and that he once took the money from a market in Istanbul’s Batışehir by showing his ID and receipt.

Mossad also wanted to learn how Palestinians coming to Istanbul Airport during COVID-19 that could not leave were aided.

The two stayed in contact until April 2021, when M.C. asked M.A.S. to meet him in Europe with all of his expenses covered. M.A.S. was sent an invitation letter by a front company called European Student Guidance Center (ESGC) through the Switzerland consulate general in Istanbul.

M.A.S received his visa from Switzerland within the hour, flew to the country and was met by A.Z. at Zurich Airport.

He guessed A.Z. was around 60-65 years old and 1.80 meters (5 feet 9 inches) tall. He was given 500 euros ($580) and was brought to a hotel. He met M.C. at another hotel and was taught in his room how to encrypt Word files on Protonmail. Further contact between the two was made through Protonmail.

M.A.S. elaborated that he went to Zurich once again in August where he met with M.C. and another man called John. After M.A.S. got suspicious that they might be intelligence agents, M.C. told him he could think of them as “an intelligence-like organization with the duty of making research for EU institutions.”

M.A.S. received close to $10,000 over the three years.

Based on this, the Turkish citizen is not a spy. He didn't even suspect that his handlers were spies until a few months ago. 

Every government gathers intelligence, and while the handlers used clandestine means to gather it, "M.A.S" does not appear to have done that. The information he gathered was useful as part of a huge amount of information that intelligence agencies must sift through to find patterns and potential threats. But this is really small potatoes.

Maybe some of the other people arrested were doing more illegal things to gather intelligence, or had access to more sensitive information. But based on this story, it sounds more like Turkey bragging that they managed to "break a Mossad spy ring" than any actual accomplishment.

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